Try the “Stations of the Rosary.” My students did, and they loved it.

As a Religion teacher, I had to think of creative ways to effectively engage my Grade 8 students in class to maximize their participation and learning experience. Apart from using my mnemonics or acronyms, videos, zen slides, exams with interactive love stories, and automated quizzes, I decided to try giving a different take on an ancient Catholic tradition – the rosary. And here’s what my students thought…

New and exciting

Many of students said that they were excited to do it since we haven’t seen any other groups doing the “stations of the rosary.” There was a sense of awe that we could actually be the first group to have done it (we could be wrong, of course).

Of course, many people do the Stations of the Cross, a traditional prayer done during Holy Week where the faithful commemorate the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ by walking and meditating at fourteen stations, representing fourteen biblical scenes of the Passion. However, I haven’t heard any other groups doing what we did. I even tried googling it but found nothing on the subject.

Do you know any other groups doing a similar thing? Please let me know.

Deeply moving and absorbing

I wrote my personal meditations on the sorrowful mysteries inspired by my personal reflections and the writings of St. Josemaria Escriva then I printed pictures corresponding to each mystery. I situated the pictures at different parts of the campus and we prayed the rosary while visiting the five stations of the rosary.

It was a pleasant surprise that all my students listened intently to the reflections per mystery and recited the prayers carefully. Many students commented that they were surprised they didn’t feel sleepy as they really entered into the scenes of the rosary and imagined being part of the story. One student remarked that he used to get so bored praying the rosary thinking of how long it is, but now he even got surprised that he didn’t notice the time passing while we were praying. One boy even said that he got teary-eyed, seeing how much Christ had suffered for him.

A personal devotion

The Stations of the Rosary is a product of my daily prayer and reflection on the mysteries of Christ’s life as seen through the eyes of Mary. This personal devotion which I am sharing with you has no ecclesiastical approval (yet), but I think it can be helpful for those who are struggling to get more from praying the Rosary.

I invite you to try this prayer, and please let me know what you think about it and please include me in your prayers as well.